It was a bit cloudy this morning, but otherwise quite nice in Estabrook Park, and now that the clouds have moved on, the day looks so pretty that I feel like I should try to do something outside this afternoon.
I stopped by the pond nice and early, but like a cat that can’t decide if it wants to be inside or outside, our recently on-again-off-again yellow-crowned night heron was missing once more. In its place, however, was this youngish-looking great blue heron, who was either a lot bolder or a lot more oblivious than its skittish elders. I got pictures during my first visit, but this one from later in the morning when the light was a lot better looks a lot nicer.
At the crest of the bluff, behind the beer garden, a trio of blue jays appeared to be composed of a fledgling and its two parents. The fledgling kept behind a stick, so that’s just its tail jutting into the picture from the right, but the parents weren’t shy about letting me see them for a change, and they looked quite grumpy as they repeatedly ferried morsels to their offspring.
On the river at the north end, we’ve got a new batch of mallard ducklings, perhaps even on their maiden voyage this morning, in addition to the two broods I showed you yesterday.
Back on shore, the normally-shyer indigo buntings are also acting bolder recently, and here’s a male stuffing its beak with grass seeds, either for internal use only, or perhaps to be regurgitated for youngsters who “are ready to fledge.”
Here he is pausing to eye me up.
As with the spotted sandpiper on Thursday, the killdeer have been making themselves scarce lately, so it was a treat to catch this one foraging on the exposed river bottom between the two islands, even if it did keep its distance.
On my second visit to the pond, look who I found lurking below the surface of the water. “Somebody’s sprouting hind le-e-egs.”
I spotted this ghostly creature earlier in the morning, but I’ve been saving the bugs for last lately, because that’s usually when I see them, after the sun has warmed them up, so here we are. This is an aptly-name plain plume moth (Hellinsia homodactylus), and I might not have even included it today if it wasn’t for the other two, more-colorful species of plume moths I’ve already shown you: a grape and an artichoke. I’d hate for you to miss out on collecting the whole set.
Your dragonfly of the day is this gorgeous eastern pondhawk.
Finally, your butterfly of the day is this dashing red admiral, the first one I’ve managed to photograph in Estabrook this year. I did show you one from Dubrovnik back in January, but that’s not quite the same. Instead, you may recall that last year, when we had a nice warm spring, the first picture I was able to show you was of one sipping maple tree sap all the way back on April 10. Wow! What a difference a year makes, eh?
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 